San Diego Classic Film Calendar

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Ukuleles, Insomnia, and Halloween

About two months ago, I bought a ukulele, and I've been trying to teach myself to play it with marginal success, using books, online videos and tablature sites, etc. I think the biggest problem I am having is finding middle ground between really simple songs that are pretty easy to play and sound okay and stuff that is difficult to play, but sounds way cool. I mostly want to learn instrumental stuff, especially themes from movies and TV, because you don't need to sing, and they are instantly recognizable. The big problem is they can be unforgiving. You mess up a little bit, and it really throws it off. Thus, back to my original problem, playing simple easy-to-play melodies with single notes and stuff that is so far over my head that I don't even want to attempt it. So every night I sit there watching TV, alternating among playing the songs I can already fudge my way through, trying to find new stuff online, and retrying stuff I've already found in hopes that maybe I'm enough better to handle it.This brings me to last night. Previously, I had run across the theme from Halloween, and listening to it, it was fast and sounded too tough. Well, I gave it another try and despite being fast, it wasn't that bad. It's basically the same three notes played over and over and moved up and down. Later, after The Daily Show and Colbert Report, I couldn't go to sleep. I hate that, lying in bed trying to get to sleep, and I think maybe I should just get up. Maybe, I could play a little. That wouldn't be creepy at all. Dead of night, dark house, only sound is the theme for Halloween played on ukulele. Poorly. Punctuated with ocasional swearing. And, "Where did I put my mask and butcher knife."Perhaps, I've said too much.